Skate shoes with selectively flexible sole

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein are skate shoes having rollers in their soles that allow a wearer to assume the stance of a skate boarder or snow boarder. These rollers are specifically adapted to roll in a direction other than the heal-toe axis direction. As illustrated herein, only the mechanism that allows for extending and retracting the rollers from the sole of a shoe is illustrated. That is, while the upper and sole of the shoe is not illustrated, it will be appreciated that components discussed herein may be incorporated into such a shoe.

CROSS REFERENCE

This application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/168,111 entitled: “Skate Shoes with Selectively Flexible Sole” and having a filing date of Apr. 9, 2009, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The disclosed apparatus relates to shoes that include that may be retracted relative to a sole of the shoe.

BACKGROUND

A number of walking shoes have been proposed that can be converted to function temporarily as roller skates. Some of these proposed shoes permit one or more wheels to be retracted into the sole of the shoe for walking, and then extended for rolling. Of course, such shoes require soles with thicknesses sufficient to fully contain such rollers when retracted, but have the advantage of not requiring their rolling parts to be carried separately while walking.

Some of these shoes purport to permit a wearer to propel himself along with alternating forward thrusts with each foot, in a motion similar to roller-blading/in-line skating. The direction of travel is generally determined by the fore-aft or toe-heel axis of the foot. Another shoe, sometimes referred to as a ‘heelie’, has a roller mounted in a cavity in the heel of the sole. For walking, the roller can, in some instances, be completely disposed into this cavity. In a rolling mode, the roller is exposed and a wearer can roll in a forward direction upon the cylindrical roller with ankle locked and shin flexed. A third type of proposed shoe has wheels that are transverse to the toe-heel axis of the sole.

Typically, to permit these shoes to be worn while the rollers or wheels are retracted, the soles of the shoes are often very thick. Such thickness is required to house the rollers when retracted.

SUMMARY

The inventor of the disclosed apparatus has recognized that the sole thickness of shoes having retractable rollers often makes such shoes stiff and uncomfortable for walking. The inventor has also recognized that the stiffness of the sole is desirable to provide a stable platform for rolling/skating when the retractable wheels are extended. To provide a shoe that allows for housing retractable rollers, providing a stable platform and is flexible for walking when the wheels are retracted, the inventor has designed a roller shoe that has a sole that is flexible while walking and stiff while rolling. That is, in a first arrangement the sole flexes in at least two locations to allow the shoe to bend with a wearer's foot. In another arrangement, the flexible locations of the sole may be fixed to provide a stiff platform for rolling. The wearer may quickly adjust the sole between the flexible and stiff arrangements in conjunction with retracting and extending the rollers. In one arrangement, the retractable wheels may allow a wearer to roll in a direction that is transverse to the toe-heel axis. In such an arrangement, the wearer may have a sidewise stance similar to that of a rider standing on a skateboard or snowboard. In another arrangement, the retractable wheels may allow a user to roll in a direction aligned with the toe-heel axis.

In the arrangement where the wheels are aligned transverse to the toe-heel axis, there may be at least three wheels and these wheels may be non-aligned. That is, the wheels may form a triangular or square pattern such that the wheels alone support the shoe in an upright manner. That is, unlike roller blades having multiple aligned wheels that tip over free of a user wearing the shoe, the present shoe may be self supporting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a retracting mechanism for the roller shoe in a retracted position.

FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of the retracting mechanism for the roller shoe in an extended position.

FIG. 3 illustrates a side view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of the selectively flexible sole of the shoe.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exploded perspective view of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 illustrates a detailed view of a locking mechanism for the selectively flexible sole.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Disclosed herein are skate shoes having rollers in their soles that allow a wearer to assume the stance of a skate boarder or snow boarder. These rollers are specifically adapted to roll in a direction other than the heal-toe axis direction. As illustrated herein, only the mechanism that allows for extending and retracting the rollers from the sole of a shoe is illustrated. That is, while the upper and sole of the shoe is not illustrated, it will be appreciated that components discussed herein may be incorporated into such a shoe.

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate perspective views of a skate shoe retracting mechanism 10 that allows axel assemblies 12 a, 12 b, 12 c to retract and extend from the bottom of a support structure 30 that is integrated into the foot bed or sole of a wearer's shoe. As shown in FIG. 1, the axel assemblies 12 a-12 c are shown in a retracted position. In contrast, in FIG. 2 the axel assemblies 12 a-12 c are shown in an extended position such that they extend beneath the bottom of the sole of a wearer's shoe (not shown).

Each of these axel assemblies includes an axel 14 that, when integrated into a shoe, support a wheel thereon. Such wheels are known in the art, including those commonly found on roller blades and other skating devices. To prevent the retraction relative to the support structure 30, each of the axel assemblies is mounted to the bottom of the support structure 30 via first and second support studs 16 a, 16 b. Specifically, a pin (not shown) extends between the first and second support studs 16 a, 16 b through an aperture in the upper surface of the axel assembly 12. The tetrahedral surface of the top end 18 of the axel assembly rests on the bottom surface of the support assembly when the axel assemblies are extended (as shown in FIG. 2). That is, each axel assembly 12 a-12 c rotates relative to its mounting studs until the edge 19 of the tetrahedral surface 18 is rotated past the bottom surface of the support structure 30. This snap locks the axel assembly 12 a-12 c in the extended position.

As noted above, one problem with existing skate shoes is that, when worn with the wheels retracted, the soles of such shoes are typically extremely stiff and uncomfortable for walking. The present device alleviates this problem by utilizing a novel hinge mechanism in the support structure 30 that permits the support structure and the sole of a shoe to bend in a first arrangement and to provide a stiff substantially rigid support platform in a second arrangement. Referring briefly to FIGS. 4 and 5, a perspective view of the support structure is illustrated. As shown in FIG. 5, the support structure 30 is formed of a top plate 40, a mid-plate 50 and a bottom plate 60. These plates may be made of any suitable material. For instance, the plates may be made of plastics, composites and/or metals. Typically, these plates are very thin. That is, each plate is typically less than about 4 mm and more preferably 2 mm or less in thickness. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, each of these plates has three hinged sections 42 a-42 c, 52 a-52 c, 62 a-62 c. These hinges may be integrally formed with each of the plates 40, 50, 60 or be separate members that interconnect the plates. In one arrangement, the hinges are formed as living hinges within the plates. That is, the hinges are formed of thinner areas in the plates that allow the plates to bend at the hinge line. When the plates are assembled, as illustrated in FIG. 4, and the hinges are each aligned, the support structure 30 may bend along these aligned hinge lines of the three plates 40, 50, 60. In contrast, when the hinge lines and plates are misaligned, the support structure resists bending at the hinges. To permit such misalignment, the center plate 50 is operative to slide relative to the top plate 40 and bottom plate 60. More specifically, a user may grasp a tab 54 on the end of the mid-plate 50 and pull or push on the mid-plate to align or misalign the hinge lines of the plates 40, 50, 60.

As shown in FIG. 5, the mid-plate 50 is received within lateral guides 64, 66 in the bottom plate 60. These lateral guides 64, 66 position the mid-plate 50 and is advanced and retracted. It will further be noted that the mid-plate 50 is narrower than the bottom plate and the top plate. This allows for interconnecting the lateral edges of the top plate and bottom plates such that the support structure may be a unitary structure upon assembly. The moving mid-plate 50 in conjunction with the top and bottom plates 40, 60 also provides another function for the skate shoe. Specifically, apertures 48 a-48 c, 58 a-58 c, 68 a-68 c within the plates 40, 50, 60, respectively, provide a means for securing the axel assemblies 12 a-12 c relative to the support structure 30 in a retracted arrangement. Referring to FIG. 6, as shown in detail C, when the axel assemblies 12 is retracted relative to the bottom surface of the support structure 30, a catch or tab 22 extends through the aligned apertures in the bottom plate 60 and the mid-plate 50. As shown in the top figure of FIG. 6, these apertures in the mid-plate 50 and bottom plate 60 are aligned when the hinges of these plates 50, 60 are misaligned. Accordingly, the axel assembly may be rotated such that the tab 22 extends through the aligned apertures. Once disposed through this aperture, a wearer may retract the mid-plate such that the mid-plate engages a lip 24 of the tab 22 in conjunction with aligning the hinges of the mid-plate with the hinges in the top and bottom plates. In this regard, the mid-plate provides a structure that maintains the axel assemblies and wheels supported thereon retracted to the bottom surface of the support structure. Likewise, in this position all the hinges are aligned such that the support structure may flex in various places relative to the foot.

It will be appreciated that it is desirable that the hinge lines within each of the plates 40, 50, 60 permit flexure of the foot in a normal manner. In this regard, one hinge line 42, 52, 62 is typically located relative to the heel area, and the other two hinge lines are located near the base of a wearer's toe and/or the ball of their foot. It will be appreciated that the exact configuration of the hinge lines may vary to provide desired flexibility. 

1. A skate shoe having a sole and an upper, comprising: a support structure for disposition in the sole of the shoe the support structure including: a top plate having at least one hinge line; a mid plate having at least one hinge line; a bottom plate having at least one hinge line, wherein the top, mid and bottom plates are disposed in face to face contact, wherein at least one of the plates is movable between a first position and a second position, wherein all the hinge lines of the plates are aligned in the first position and at least two of the hinge lines are misaligned in the second position; and at least two wheels pivotally connected to a bottom surface of the bottom plate.
 2. The shoe of claim 1, wherein the support structure bends along the aligned hinge lines in the first position.
 3. The shoe of claim 1, wherein the support structure is substantially rigid in the second position.
 4. The shoe of claim 1, further comprising: at least three wheels.
 5. The shoe of claim 4, wherein the three wheels are not aligned. 